title: Differences in the mutation of the p53 gene in exons 6 and 7 in cervical samples from HIV- and HPV-infected women.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Human Papillomavirus (HPV) infection is a serious problem for human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)-infected women, increases their risk of cervical lesions and cancer. In cervical carcinogenesis, mutations in the p53 gene occur most frequently within exons 5-8. To our knowledge, no previous studies have analyzed mutations in exons 5-8 of the p53 gene in HIV- and HPV-infected women. In our study, we verified these mutations in women with and without cervical abnormalities.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The study included 160 women, divided into three groups: (1) 83 HPV- and HIV-infected women (HIV group); (2) 37 HPV-infected/HIV-uninfected (control group); and (3) 40 normal cytology/DNA-HPV negative/HIV-uninfected women (negative control p53 reactions). HPV-DNA was detected using polymerase chain reaction (PCR) and genotyping by PCR-restriction fragment length polymorphism analysis. Using primers for exons 5-8, the mutation of the p53 gene was verified by PCR-single strand conformational polymorphism. The total mutation of the p53 gene in exons 5-8 was not significantly associated with the HIV and control groups. The mutations in exon 7 were the highest in the HIV group (43.8%) and in exon 6 in the control group (57.2%) (p = 0.0793) suggesting a tendency toward differential mutation in exon 7 in the HIV group.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Our study provides preliminary evidence that the mutation in exon 7 might be an important differentiating factor for cervical carcinogenesis in HIV-infected women. This aspect deserves an additional cross-sectional and longitudinal study using a larger sample size with a higher number of High-grade squamous intraephitelial lesion (HSIL) to observe the evolution of cervical lesions.
authors.affiliation: Department of Clinical Analysis and Biomedicine, State University of Maringá, Av, Colombo 5790, Maringá 87020-900, Paraná, Brazil. melconsolaro@gmail.com.
authors.forename: Raquel P
authors.initials: RP
authors.lastname: Souza
authors.forename: Fabrícia
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Gimenes
authors.forename: André Lp
authors.initials: AL
authors.lastname: de Abreu
authors.forename: Sheila C
authors.initials: SC
authors.lastname: Rocha-Brischiliari
authors.forename: Maria Db
authors.initials: MD
authors.lastname: de Carvalho
authors.forename: Erika C
authors.initials: EC
authors.lastname: Ferreira
authors.forename: Marcelo G
authors.initials: MG
authors.lastname: Bonini
authors.forename: Sandra M
authors.initials: SM
authors.lastname: Pelloso
authors.forename: Marcia El
authors.initials: ME
authors.lastname: Consolaro